Diablo 3 for Nintendo Switch Review (Diablo 3 Eternal Collection)

– Not every six-year-old game can feel fresh and modern on a new platform, especially after you take off the oh-my-gosh-it’s-on-Switch-so-I-can-take-it-anywhere goggles. This is my third trip through Diablo III since its original release on PC and expansion-pack-fueled debut on Xbox One, and I have to say, it still plays wonderfully. That’s not a huge surprise. What is an unexpected delight is how good Diablo III looks on Nintendo’s portable console. (dramatic music) The Diablo III Eternal Collection doesn’t really offer anything new, apart from a Ganondorf armor set, but it does offer everything, the Reaper of Souls expansion that makes you forget about the weak fourth act, a seventh playable character in the form of the sadistic Necromancer, and every single update and tweak that’s helped Diablo III realize its full enormous potential. It is Diablo III in its final form, and it’s simply a blast, often literally, thanks to the explosive deaths that monsters suffer at your mighty hands. And it looks better than I expected it to, with image quality that suits the Switch’s built-in 720p screen perfectly. When you’re on a 65-inch 4K TV, running in Diablo III’s maximum 960p resolution, only the character detail suffers a bit.The environments still look great. Connecting to other players for multiplayer, both in the same room with local play and online, was a breeze. And though we tried like hell to bring Diablo III’s frame rate to its knees on the Switch, it not only didn’t break, it didn’t even flinch. With four players setting off crazy special attacks amidst dozens of monsters onscreen, Diablo III on Switch stayed buttery smooth. Even the couple of networking hiccups we encountered couldn’t stop us. The action recovered a few seconds later and we got right back to having fun. Battery life in handheld mode, meanwhile, falls right in line with a typical big-budget Switch release with roughly two-and-a-half to three hours of playtime. If you’ve never played Blizzard’s legendary loot-grinder, the Eternal Collection on Switch lives up to its name. You’ll find no shortage of content and characters to fill dozens of hours. And by the way, you’re in for a treat.But even if you’re like me and the Switch is your third Diablo III platform, I still heartily endorse it because, quite simply, this is a complete and polished Diablo package that you can play anywhere, from heaven to hell and everywhere in between. For more on the characters of Diablo III, check out our review of The Rise of the Necromancer DLC that’s included in the Eternal Collection and our Witch Doctor spotlight. And for everything else in the world of video games, stay tuned to IGN. .